Nicholas Bloem didn’t hide his future career goal. During his first conversation with his high-school sweetheart, he told her he wanted to be a Marine.

"It was definitely his calling in life. I don’t think he could have asked for a better way to die," said Kacie Ouano. Bloem, 20, of Belgrade, Mont., died Aug. 3 when his vehicle was hit by an explosive south of Haditha. He was based at Billings.

Bloem graduated high school in 2003, moving to Montana with his family from Bellevue, Wash., just before his senior year. He wanted to enroll at Montana State University in Bozeman.

His dream was to rise to the top of the command chain as an officer in the Marine Corps.

"It appealed to that part of him that wanted to overcome something that was seemingly insurmountable," said his father, Al Bloem.

His father said Bloem had been excited about joining the military and chose the Marines because "he wanted the hardest and he wanted the best." He joined in July 2003.